November 22, 2022 – As a standard medical practice, clinicians are familiar with the sticky subject of IV catheters. This therapy has been used for over 350 years, but it certainly provides challenges for plenty of clinicians in the field. Companies like BD have taken great measures to improve the necessary tools for successful IV procedures.
In a recent podcast, host and Repertoire Magazine publisher Scott Adams spoke to Kierstin Olson, the Marketing Director of Vascular Access for BD, about IV catheters and a selection from the full range of vascular access devices that BD offers.
“Peripheral IV catheters (PIVCs) are devices that get placed in the vein to deliver fluids, medications, and other therapies such as blood products,” Olson said. “Most often, the IV access is obtained to provide therapies that can’t be administered or are less effective if given in alternate routes like a pill.” IV medication and fluids can be used to treat nausea and dehydration and are often a more effective way to give medications.
Even with a therapy that’s been used for so long, there are plenty of complications that can occur when clinicians are putting in a catheter. One of the major areas that BD focuses on is first stick success.
Olson said, “The placement of that IV is often the first procedure that happens to a patient by a clinician. It’s uncomfortable, of course, because it has to do with a needle. When the clinician misses, they begin to doubt their own abilities. Getting the insertion right on the first attempt is critical.”
Studies have shown that insertion on the first attempt was unsuccessful in up to 26% of adult patients, 54% of pediatric patients, and 55% of neonatal patients. After multiple insertion attempts, the likelihood of a negative outcome like vessel trauma and venous depletion increases. Once the clinician has used the available body parts that can take an IV catheter, you have to perform more invasive procedures to get the patients the hydration or medications they need.
Read more in the latest issue of Repertoire Magazine.